A foodie struggles with bulimia

In Maddie's Secret, director John Early plays the lead character, a woman dealing with a long-standing eating disorder, in this case, bulimia. A comedian, actor, and singer, Early's sex isn't the secret to which the movie's title refers. Early plays a female character. That’s it. The movie’s secret involves Maddie's bulimia, a condition she has been hiding for years. Maddie works in the food industry, beginning the movie as a dishwasher on a cooking show. A vegan who also knows how to cook, Maddie lands her own show and becomes a serious influencer. Up to that point, Maddie's husband Jake (Eric Rahill) had been the main beneficiary of Maddie's culinary talents. Her best friend Deena (Kate Bertlant) also plays a big role in Maddie's life. A lesbian who's crushing on Maddie, Deena is blindly supportive, maybe to the point of obsession. Early's screenplay piles on soap-operatic complications. When Jake discovers Maddie vomiting in the bathroom, he assumes she's pregnant. Claudia O'Doherty plays a co-worker who -- until Maddie's ascendance -- was the cooking network's star attraction. She’s not happy about slipping into second place. Early mostly succeeds in mixing humor and melodrama as he leads the story to Maddie's hospitalization after an eating disorder-induced heart attack. A late-picture scene involving Maddie's mother (Kristen Johnston) offers an explanation for Maddie's disorder that feels like an example of parental abuse played as much for melodramatic effect as for illuminating clarity. Still, Maddie's Secret isn't glib or dismissive, and Early plays Maddie with an undeniable sincerity that acknowledges the character's humanity as well as her disorder.

This 'Minions' is fun -- for a while

— A massive orange blob of a monster tries to devour much of Hollywood. 

— Images of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Dooley Wilson, who played Sam the piano player in Casablanca's Rick's Cafe, flicker by.

—  An animated George Lucas under glass asks to be released from his display at a museum.

—  Georges Milies's A Trip to the Moon crops up.

   All of that and more can be found in Minions & Monsters, the third stand-alone Minions movie since their solo debut in 2015. For the record, the Minions first appeared in 2010's Despicable Me.

  As you may be able to tell from the list above, Minions and Monsters is an eclectic -- sometimes frenzied -- addition to the series that places Henry and James -- two new Minion heroes -- in Hollywood during the silent era. 

   Director Pierre Coffin accelerates the action in ways that may remind older audiences of the smashing mayhem found in many Looney Tunes cartoons.

  As is their way, the Minions will race about looking for a new evil master to serve, but the story is framed by a guide named Olivia (voiced by Allison Janney) who's leading a Hollywood studio tour built around the idea that the minions invented Hollywood, a story that unfolds in flashbacks.

  In that story, Henry and James align themselves with Bright Brothers Studio, headed by two brothers voiced by Jeff Bridges. Bottom-line guys, the brothers prioritize  profits over aesthetics. The Minions are a hit.

  The arrival of sound finishes the Minions Hollywood triumph, but their trademark gibberish keeps them out of the Talkies.

   The story delivers additional commotion when Henry and James attempt to make a monster movie on their own, an effort that has them chanting magic spells to summon suitable monsters. 

  And, yes, that's Jesse Eisenberg's voice you hear as Dort, the alien robot who falls for a human woman.

  Young fans may not appreciate all the movie references because much of Minions & Monsters takes place during the 1920s. Older audiences may get a kick out of the movie's riotous first act, and those with a taste for colorful  clutter may be amused by the rest.

   Me? About three-quarters of the way through this one-hour-and-thirty-minute hunk of Minion maximalism,  the movie's early-picture cleverness began to fade, and I found myself looking forward to the end credits, which -- as it turns out -- include even more jokes.